Friday Roundup (Monday Edition)

The blog is back in town with some Monday morning links of accumulated news:

“From combat to lockdown“: The Salt Lake Tribune reports on the rising numbers of veterans behind bars. Also available via the Crime Report. The article notes that veterans are blocked by federal law from accessing VA treatment while they are in prison, yet prisons are unlikely to provide adequate treatment for conditions such as PTSD.

U.S. Sentencing Commission approves amendments to federal sentencing guidelines that would expand use of alternatives to prison in cases involving mental illness or drug/alcohol addiction.

California inmates drop federal lawsuit dating to 1966 over library access, in light of new CDCR regulations that mandate equal access for all inmates to prison law libraries.